Tutera Has Wedding Advice

Celebrity wedding planner David Tutera, host of We TV’s My Fair Wedding, travels the country talking to brides. Their No. 1 question: How do I have the wedding of my dreams without breaking the bank? “It is the question consistently asked,” Tutera said by phone.

While industry figures for the cost of weddings have increased overall, the average price of individual weddings is down from $32,000 to $22,000, he said.

Tutera has a few suggestions for using your planning time wisely: Simplify. “Simplifying the details doesn’t mean you’re doing a less than over-the-top wedding,” Tutera said. It means getting the details just right and not overspending on things that are not as important to you.

Less (money) can be more. It is not about the money, he said, it is about the energy of the event.

Trim the guests. “If you have 150 guests, really look at the list and see if you can scale it down to 100,” he said. His rule of thumb? “When you look at the photos in 10 years, will you know who these people are?”

Downsize the drinks. Choose a specialty drink and serve wine and prosecco instead of Champagne, he said. But never have a cash bar. “I never have cash on me, so I would be (very upset),” Tutera said.

Cut the cake. Do you need a $2,000 cake? Really? Maybe you and your HTB (husband-to-be) met over ice cream — have an ice cream bar and a small cake instead, Tutera said. Which brings us to …

Be a trendsetter. The biggest trend going forward is being you and not copying someone else, Tutera said. “(Couples) get lost in all the craziness. They are so blurry-eyed by too much information, (the wedding) loses the personality of who they are.”

Get the right dress. “Brides now more than ever are doing this without their moms. They don’t know fashion; they don’t know their body types.”